Military History

Military History

episodes

Interviews with scholars of military history about their new books.

Dan Stone, "The Holocaust: An Unfinished History" (Mariner Books, 2023)

March 18, 2024

The Holocaust

Dan Stone
Hosted by Kelly McFall

The Holocaust is much-discussed, much-memorialized and much-portrayed. But there are major aspects of its history that have been overlooked. Spanning …

Erica L. Fraser, "Military Masculinity and Postwar Recovery in the Soviet Union" (U Toronto Press, 2019)

March 17, 2024

Military Masculinity and Postwar Recovery in the Soviet Union

Erica L. Fraser
Hosted by Polina Popova

Catastrophic wartime casualties and postwar discomfort with the successes of women who had served in combat roles combined to shatter prewar ideals …

Amy Lidster and Sonia Massai, "Shakespeare at War: A Material History" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

Shakespeare at War

Amy Lidster and Sonia Massai

Presenting engaging, thought-provoking stories across centuries of military activity, Shakespeare at War: A Material History (Cambridge UP, 2023) demo…

Jonathan W. White, "Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023)

March 15, 2024

Shipwrecked

Jonathan W. White

In Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023), historian Jonathan…

Raanan Rein and Susanne Zepp-Zwirner, "Untold Stories of the Spanish Civil War" (Routledge, 2024)

March 10, 2024

Untold Stories of the Spanish Civil War

Raanan Rein and Susanne Zepp-Zwirner
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Untold Stories of the Spanish Civil War (Routledge, 2024) is the first scholarly volume to offer an insight into the less-known stories of women, chil…

Edda Fields-Black, "Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War" (Oxford UP, 2023)

March 7, 2024

Combee

Edda Fields-Black
Hosted by Katrina Anderson

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground R…

Alan Bollard, "Economists at War: How a Handful of Economists Helped Win and Lose the World Wars" (Oxford UP, 2020)

March 6, 2024

Economists at War

Alan Bollard

Wartime is not just about military success. Economists at War: How a Handful of Economists Helped Win and Lose the World Wars (Oxford UP, 2020) tells …

Bryan Mark Rigg, "Japan's Holocaust: History of Imperial Japan's Mass Murder and Rape During World War II" (Knox Press, 2024)

March 5, 2024

Japan's Holocaust

Bryan Mark Rigg
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Japan's Holocaust: History of Imperial Japan's Mass Murder and Rape During World War II (Knox Press, 2024) combines research conducted in over eightee…

Ilmari Käihkö, "'Slava Ukraini!': Strategy and the Spirit of Ukrainian Resistance 2014–2023" (Helsinki UP, 2023)

March 5, 2024

“Slava Ukraini!”

Ilmari Käihkö

In wake of the Maiden Revolution of 2013-14, the pro-Russian government of Ukraine under Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in place of a regime seeking…

Peter Harmsen, "Bernhard Sindberg: The Schindler of Nanjing" (Casemate, 2024)

February 28, 2024

Bernhard Sindberg

Peter Harmsen
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In December 1937, the Chinese capital, Nanjing, falls and the Japanese army unleash an orgy of torture, murder, and rape. Over the course of six weeks…

Obert Bernard Mlambo, "Land Expropriation in Ancient Rome and Contemporary Zimbabwe: Veterans, Masculinity and War" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

February 27, 2024

Land Expropriation in Ancient Rome and Contemporary Zimbabwe

Obert Bernard Mlambo
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In this highly original book Land Expropriation in Ancient Rome and Contemporary Zimbabwe: Veterans, Masculinity and War (Bloomsbury, 2022), Dr. Obert…

Peter Harmsen, "Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze" (Casemate, 2015)

February 26, 2024

Shanghai 1937

Peter Harmsen
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Peter Harmsen's book Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze (Casemate, 2015) describes one of the great forgotten battles of the 20th century. At it…

Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, "Experiments in Skin: Race and Beauty in the Shadows of Vietnam" (Duke UP, 2021)

February 26, 2024

Experiments in Skin

Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu
Hosted by Yadong Li

Through a creative focus on skin, in Experiments in Skin: Race and Beauty in the Shadows of Vietnam (Duke UP, 2021), Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu examines the …

Angela Wanhalla, "Of Love and War: Pacific Brides of World War II" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

February 25, 2024

Of Love and War

Angela Wanhalla
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between 1942 and 1945 more than two million servicemen occupied the southern Pacific theater, the majority of whom were Americans in service with the …

Ivo Goldstein and Slavko Goldstein, "The Holocaust in Croatia" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2016)

February 25, 2024

The Holocaust in Croatia

Ivo Goldstein and Slavko Goldstein
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

The Holocaust in Croatia (U Pittsburgh Press, 2016) recounts the history of the Croatian Jewish community during the Second World War, with a focus on…

Paul Scharre, "Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" (Norton, 2023)

February 24, 2024

Four Battlegrounds

Paul Scharre
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

An award-winning defense expert tells the story of today’s great power rivalry―the struggle to control artificial intelligence. A new industrial re…

The Future of the Chinese Military

February 23, 2024

The Future of the Chinese Military

James A. Siebens

For all the talk of China being a peaceful country with no aggressive intentions, it has behaved like most other rising powers – spending lots of mone…

Devin O. Pendas, "Democracy, Nazi Trials and Transitional Justice in Germany, 1945–1950" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

February 23, 2024

Democracy, Nazi Trials and Transitional Justice in Germany, 1945–1950

Devin O. Pendas
Hosted by Eric Grube

In his new book, Democracy, Nazi Trials, and Transitional Justice in Germany, 1945-1950 (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Dr. Devin O. Pendas examin…

Ricky W. Law, "Transnational Nazism: Ideology and Culture in German-Japanese Relations, 1919-1936" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

February 20, 2024

Transnational Nazism

Ricky W. Law
Hosted by Craig Sorvillo

In his new book, Transnational Nazism: Ideology and Culture in German-Japanese Relations, 1919-1936 (Cambridge University Press, 2019), associate prof…

Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson, "American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15" (FSG, 2023)

February 20, 2024

American Gun

Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson
Hosted by Chris Holmes

In the 1950s, an obsessive firearms designer named Eugene Stoner invented the AR-15 rifle in a California garage. High-minded and patriotic, Stoner so…